Accessibility details available at end of notes.

The Flat-Pack Packer Pattern:
This is a flat-knit pattern for a soft packer that creates an anatomically accurate ‘outline’ when worn. It’s intended for trans & nonbinary people to wear - but if you need or want one for another reason, that’s cool too :smile:

The main features of the Flat-Pack Packer are:

• It’s a beginner-friendly knit: you only need to know three kinds of stitch to do it, and it works up quickly.
• It can be unrolled and laid flat to be washed, stored, or mailed.
• It’s made in one piece, avoiding seams.
• It doesn’t need stuffing.
• The curl of the stockinette stitch that makes it up helps the packer stay in shape as it is worn.
• It has a little bit of weight to it - you can feel that it is there - but not so much that it moves in unnerving ways!

Don’t worry too much about not having the right size of yarn - it works just as well made with multiple threads of yarn, so much as they add up to the same size as Super Bulky. You can also use the material you prefer, just make sure you pay attention to its washing instructions!

The needle size shouldn’t matter too much either as long as it’s in the right ballpark, but if you need to make adjustments to the size, instructions are provided in the pattern.

By default, the shaft of the packer should come out at around 3.5in long.

The reason that the pattern uses large yarn on small needles is that it produces a tight-knit fabric that curls in on itself easily. Ordinarily, this isn’t desirable, but as the purpose of this pattern is to create a three-dimensional object, it’s what we are going for.

The Flat-Pack Packer Story:
I came up with this pattern because I was looking for a middle ground between silicone and/or elastomer-based packers and packers made of socks. I didn’t like how heavy and annoying to maintain my Mr. Limpy was, and had some concerns about how it moved when I wore it. I also didn’t like packing with socks - the result was really lightweight and I was never sure how it looked from the outside.

I also got a bit spooked by some of the existing knitting and crochet patterns for packers, because they seemed a bit out of my depth. That’s why the Flat-Pack Packer isn’t as anatomically accurate as some other patterns, such as the Lil’ Bug Soft Packer, the Perfectly Reasonable Packer, and the Soft Packer. If they’re detailed artistic representations, the Flat-Pack Packer is like a desk doodle. It’s not as complex or as accurate, but you can still look at it and say ‘oh, that’s a penis.’

Once I had the idea, I made a few prototypes, tested them out a bit, got the pattern beta tested (thank you so much!!) and published it.

Selling finished objects

Go ahead! It would be nice for more of these to be out in the world.

However, I would really appreciate if you linked back to this pattern when you did so, or redistributed the pattern itself.

Accessibility Details:
The pattern comes in three versions:

• A version optimised for space
• A version for people who find the font Comic Sans simpler to read (for example, some dyslexic people)
• A large print version following RNIB guidelines for large print documents.

All three versions of the pattern contain the same content. I have also endeavoured to use Word formatting features such as heading levels and alt-text accurately and effectively. As part of my testing process, I was able to use the screenreader NVDA to access the documents - so screenreader users should probably be able to use the PDFs, but as I am not a regular screenreader user and screenreaders can differ, I can’t provide a guarantee.

If you use assistive technology and run into issues accessing the documents in any way, please let me know. I may be able to produce another version of the pattern for you or provide you with an alternative format. I cannot promise a fast turnaround, but it would let me know that there was a need in that area.

I have no problems with anyone modifying the pattern or putting the text into another format for accessibility reasons, though - so if you or someone else is able to do that, feel free!

There used to be an alternative download for this pattern on Scribd but the document appears to have been removed. I need to locate a file host that is unlikely to remove my files before I can supply another alternative link. However, I have absolutely no problem with people redistributing this pattern, especially for accessibility reasons!